4.  The applicants were born in 1938 and 1972 respectively and live in Donetsk.
5.  On 13 October 2001 Yaroslav Barsukov, the first applicant’s grandson and the second applicant’s son, born in 1992, and his friend N. P. were hit by a car, when crossing the street. Yaroslav Barsukov died in hospital from his injuries. N. P. sustained minor injuries. On the date of the accident the police inspected the site of the collision, established the identity of the driver (O.F.) and examined him as well as several eyewitnesses.
6.  On 17 October 2001 the Donetsk Police Department instituted criminal proceedings on suspicion that O.F. had driven negligently. On various dates both applicants were admitted to the proceedings as injured parties.
7.  On 26 November 2001, after having questioned the eyewitnesses and having conducted several expert assessments, the police discontinued the proceedings. They concluded that O. F. had no technical possibility to avoid the collision, as the two boys had suddenly emerged from behind a vehicle parked along the street.
8.  Following the Barsukov family’s complaints that the investigation was perfunctory, on 8 January 2002 the above decision was revoked and the case was remitted for further investigation.
9.  Between January 2002 and June 2008 the proceedings were discontinued on numerous occasions (namely, on 30 January and 15 April 2002 and 8 May, 1 August and 30 October 2003) for want of evidence that O. F. had been at fault in causing the accident. The above decisions were subsequently quashed by higher law-enforcement or judicial authorities (namely, on 8 January and 22 March 2002, 3 March, 19 May and 26 September 2003 and 4 August 2004), with reference to various omissions in the investigation and instructions to carry out further activities with a view to collecting evidence.
10.  On 12 May 2005 the Deputy Minister of the Interior informed the first applicant that, following her complaints, an internal investigation into the quality of work organisation in the Donetsk Police Department for the investigation of road traffic accidents had been carried out. As a result, various shortcomings had been revealed and the Chief of the Department and a Senior Investigator had been subjected to disciplinary sanctions.
11.  On 8 June 2005, following the applicants’ complaints, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office requested the First Deputy Head of the Donetsk Department of the Ministry of the Interior to review the quality of investigation in Yaroslav Barsukov’s case. It was noted that there were numerous omissions in the examination of the accident site. In particular, the police had failed to record the position of Yaroslav Barsukov’s body after the collision; to establish the exact place of the collision; to identify the driver of a parked vehicle from behind which the children had emerged on to the road; to photograph the site; to examine the interior of O.F.’s car; to check the level of alcohol in O.F.’s blood; to question a street-stall seller who had witnessed the accident.
12.  On 18 June 2005 the Donetsk Department of the Ministry of the Interior acknowledged that there were omissions in investigating the circumstances of the accident. It found, however, that a disciplinary action against the officer responsible would have been time-barred.
13.  In April 2008 O.F. was indicted of negligent driving resulting in a fatal accident and in June 2008 committed to stand trial before the Voroshylivsky District Court of Donetsk. The first applicant lodged a civil claim within the framework of these proceedings. It is not clear whether the second applicant also lodged a civil claim.
14.  Between June 2008 and September 2011 some forty hearings were scheduled. Some twenty of them were adjourned or rescheduled, the reasons including repeated failures of witnesses to appear, health-related and other absences of the defendant party and various administrative reasons, such as unavailability of recording equipment for a hearing or absences of the presiding judge.
15.  On 23 September 2011 the court found that the case-file contained sufficient proof that O.F. had committed a negligent offence. It further closed the proceedings relying on the Amnesty Act of 2011, which allowed, in particular, to dispense with prosecution of disabled individuals, who had committed unintentional crimes. Based on the available materials, this decision was not appealed against.